This has been a question on a few minds, or at least, with myself. If a company is so great of a opportunity, drivers should come out of the woodwork to sign on. So why have recruiters? A large enough HR department should be able to handle most of the hiring that the company needs.

I do have an answer for myself. A company that is truly great for it's drivers doesn't need one. Only a lesser company would use a recruiter. The recruiters job is in essential talking the driver into signing on with them.... So one has to reason that if a recruiter(s) were not hired on to the company, the company would fail on it's own, being the total lack of drivers interested in working for them. Let's face it. If a company is truly great, drivers will brag about it, and word of mouth would get around that that's the company to work for.

And that's the way it should be..... Why not let those companies that are unworthy simply die off do to lack of interest from the drivers?

So I'm not getting the reason why they are needed...... I'm sure there will be those who can explain it to us all. And lets not just have one company recruiter answer.... I would like to hear from all recruiters why their company needs them.

This should be interesting. :wink:

Did you stop to think about the fact that MOST large companies have "recruiters". Sometimes they are given a different title but they do the same thing for a different group of people in different settings ( college comes to mind ).

It's a stupid question...

Most corporations use recruiters, not just trucking companies.
Maybe it will help you understand why recruiters exist if you look at the succesful companies outside of trucking. If you look at "Fortune Magazines, Top 100 place to work for" all those companies use recruiters.
Why? These are the best jobs in the country in any industry. You would think they wouldnt need help filling those jobs. However, in this very strong economy, with extreemly low unemployment rates, there are not enough qualified people to fill positions Recruiters are used because recruiters are experts at creating interest where interest didnt exist before. Recruiters dont exist to prossess apps of the unemployed. Recruiters are used to hire people who already have jobs. When you see the national unemployment rate go up in a poor economy, you see the need for recruiters go down as the number of qualified people looking for better work grows. So basically we recruiters were created by a stong economy and low unemployment rate.

It would be less costly to keep drivers than to recruit new ones.

You think? Im not trying to be a smartass with this answer. But if not using recruiters would make the companies more money, why are successful companies using them. The people who run the most successful companies are some of the nations best and brightest when it comes to business sense. Im pretty sure they know much more than you or me when it comes to things like cost effectiveness. If we knew more, we would be CEOs.

It would even more effective had the "lifestyle truckers" not taken over the industry and of course if people did not have so many stupid half-assed preconceived notions when the get into the industry and of course when these notions clash with the stark realities of what this business IS, they blame????

EVERYONE BUT THEMSELVES!

As most of you have pointed out, some of the majors corperations also use recruiters, or "head hunter" But they don't look for mail room clerks, they look for upper management.

And if anyone can tell me what major corperation other that within the driving industry has a 120% and higher turnover rate, I would be glad to concede that recruiters are needed.

But lets face facts. If IBM had a 120% turnover rate, they would be out of business. So calling a company successful with that kind of a turnover rate is misquoted. Take away the recruiters, and the company fails. Unable to fill the seats. Am I wrong?

Cluggy said:

Not exactly a "corporation".... well, MAYBE.... but, I believe the MILITARY has a turnover rate very similar! And, YES.... they have recruiters! :wink:

EDIT: Not only do they have recruiters.... but they have them for EACH branch! Hmm.... wonder WHY? Could it be um..... COMPETITION?? Or, in other words, they EACH need a somewhat equal number of recruits?

Just like one doesn't "enlist" in the MILITARY (call it an industry) and then get "apportioned" to the branch that needs them the most..... one does not "enlist" in the Trucking Industry and have some "Czar" dole them out equally.

Have you ever heard of "Branding?" I can't remember the exact term, but ALL nose wipes are called "Kleenex." Underwear used to be called B.V.D.'s ( a brand name.) You get my drift. Word of mouth can "skew" the "interest" to a company who's name is synonomous with the product.

Recruiters are just there to tout THEIR specific company and benefits versus those you may have heard MORE about.

Um.... maybe because YOU might be a driver for THAT company who "dies off" and YOU might then be out of a job???

Cluggy, I don't know exactly WHAT your beef is with recruiters, but I can guess it is because (like MANY of us,) you were "sold a bill of goods" by one. Problem is.... it's no more THEIR fault than it is YOURS for "buying into it" without doing your OWN homework! At least.... that's the way I see it.

I don't know you, but MOST Truckers are real conservatives who believe in Supply and Demand. Okay.... there's a Demand for drivers at a certain company. There's a large Supply of new drivers getting into the business. Recruiters create a SUPPLY of drivers for THEIR company. What's so nefarious about this?

OR.... perhaps there's a large Demand for drivers at that company, and NOT SO BIG a supply of "applicants." So.... they go out and FIND them!

Finding WORKERS is no more nor less important than finding CUSTOMERS! This is Business 101! :roll:

BTW.... have you ever heard of "negative advertising" or "negative publicity?" Either way.... it is a boon to the company. YOU, Sir.... have created MORE interest in J.B. Hunt (on this little "board") than anything Sheepdancer has ever said! :lol:

He ought to pay you a commission! :shock: :roll: :lol:

Hey, Sheepish,
Thanks for the honest answer. Recruiters create interest where there was none.
How do you create interest? By distorting the truth? Giving false
information? Everybody knows JB, and there is no interest. Hmmmmm...
What do you do? Place ads without identifying the company. We already know that.
A bad reputation such as JB's is very hard to live down, and it goes back decades. There must be a reason for that.
You would not have the turnover that you have if it was a
JOB WORTH KEEPING.
That's what I think.